Does the Sixth Domain truly exist?

This question had crossed Qin Ruqing’s mind more than once.

So far, everyone who had mentioned the domain spoke with ambiguity.

No one had ever been fully certain of its existence.

Instead, its authenticity was consistently under suspicion.

Qin Ruqing herself had doubted it many times.

But the nature of her doubts now was different from before.

Previously, her uncertainties stemmed from the symbolic meaning of the Sixth Domain, where it might be, and how it could be found.

These questions had captured her attention and overshadowed the core issue of whether it existed in the first place.

At most, she had contemplated the matter in passing.

This kind of doubt was a natural reaction, but with so many concerns to address, it never obstructed their actual efforts.

Now, however, things had changed.

After experiencing such a grand yet disastrous failure, the question “Does the Sixth Domain really exist?” was suddenly thrust into the spotlight.

It transcended everything else, becoming the foremost concern in everyone’s minds—impossible to ignore, impossible not to consider.

Does it really exist?

There were no solid records, only legends woven into historical accounts.

Even the two revered Dao Sovereign guiding the search for the Sixth Domain had never dared to guarantee its existence.

So, did they even have a reason to continue the search?

Especially after enduring such a catastrophic failure.

What had started as a bold, hopeful mission ended in bitter disappointment.

This crushing blow shattered their confidence and enthusiasm.

They would no longer approach the task with the same fervent anticipation.

Many had already concluded in their hearts that the Sixth Domain didn’t exist.

As a result, the second activation of the Starfall Heaven-and-Earth Instrument was far more subdued.

Though the two Grand elders were still present, half of the powerful cultivators who had previously supplied energy were absent, and the number of noble families attending to observe had dwindled.

This wasn’t only because Penglai was smaller than the other four domains and thus required less energy for exploration.

It was also because a significant portion of the participants simply didn’t want to come anymore.

They preferred to observe from afar, awaiting the result with a sense of detachment, rather than being present at what felt like a judgment day.

Before the Starfall Heaven-and-Earth Instrument was reactivated, Qin Ruqing glanced at the gathered crowd and said, “Everyone, please prepare yourselves mentally. The results may not be promising again.”

“If the worst happens, I ask that you all remain resolute and find new ways to continue the search—we cannot simply sit back and wait for the beast army to break through our defenses and trample our lands.”

Silence filled the air.

Fifth Sheng and Feng Qinxue exchanged worried, thoughtful glances.

Was Qin Ruqing implying that she already knew the outcome?

The result proved her right.

According to the two Dao Sovereign’ investigation, there were about twenty strange spaces within Penglai.

Qin Ruqing spent less than half a day inspecting them one by one.

When the massive golden sphere stopped spinning, Qin Ruqing faced the expectant stares of the crowd and shook her head.

“Still nothing.”

Compared to the overwhelming, world-shattering disappointment from the first attempt, this time, the crowd accepted the outcome with surprising calm.

Perhaps they had already prepared themselves mentally, or perhaps Qin Ruqing’s earlier warning had softened the blow.

Though there was disappointment, there was also a sense of wonder.

“Sixth Elder, how did you seem so sure that this exploration would fail? Did you discover something?” Feng Qinxue asked.

Qin Ruqing didn’t hide anything and responded softly, “I have a vague sense that we’ve been searching in the wrong direction.”

“The wrong direction?” Murmurs of surprise and confusion spread through the crowd.

“Are you saying that creating a divine artifact to explore was the wrong approach?”

“Or that finding the Sixth Domain requires a specific moment or some kind of special ritual?”

All of these seemed like potential avenues, but Qin Ruqing couldn’t provide a definitive answer.

She shook her head.

“I don’t know.”

She truly didn’t know.

Ever since their initial failure a few days ago, Qin Ruqing had been replaying the entire process in her mind.

She believed that, so far, their methods were not wrong, but at the same time, it seemed that something had gone off track—an inconsistency that even she couldn’t clarify.

How could she explain it to others?

And indeed, the others didn’t understand.

But they did realize one thing—finding the Sixth Domain no longer seemed likely.

There were no longer unexplored places in the Qianyuan Continent.

If the Sixth Domain could not be found under these circumstances, could it be located in some alternate space-time? If that were the case, it would be even more distant from them.

The collective failure of this expedition was undoubtedly a major blow to the cultivation world, and the upper echelons of the great families seemed to have all fallen silent.

However, the attacks from the beast tribes continued unabated.

These assaults were not deterred by the will of humanity; on the contrary, they seemed to grow fiercer with each battle.

Just seven days after the failed artifact search mission, a beast tide erupted in the Southern Domain.

Qin Ruqing personally led a team to suppress the beast chaos.

…

Enormous ancient trees, covered in green moss, lay horizontally on the ground as if they had been struck by a tremendous force.

The torn marks on the broken trunks indicated that the impact was sudden, unstoppable, and swept everything before it.

Besides the giant ancient trees, countless corpses lay on the withered brown leaves.

There were bodies of enormous horned creatures, insect-like beasts, and some beast corpses that were hard to identify by species.

Among them were also human corpses.

In the distance, faint rustling sounds could be heard as two men in dark blue family robes flew over on alchemy furnaces.

This area had a higher concentration of human corpses.

The two men landed, their expressions solemn as they surveyed their surroundings, each summoning their alchemy furnace.

The tall, thin man sprinkled some green powder into his furnace and used magic to ignite it.

Soon, wisps of white smoke swirled up, spreading out as if conscious, drifting over the human corpses.

Suddenly, sensing something, the white smoke halted in front of one of the bodies.

Seeing this, the other man quickly approached the body, performed a spell to examine it, and soon exclaimed with surprise, “There’s still breath left, come quickly!”

The tall, thin man rushed over, and the two men quickly performed emergency treatment on the barely breathing human.

After burning incense to confirm that there were no other living beings around, the tall, thin man took out an enlarged storage bag.

Together, they cast a spell, and golden lines of energy spread out, collecting all the human corpses into the bag.

Having “cleared” this area, they swiftly moved to the next zone.

The beast tide in the southern primal forest had erupted, and the great families had a duty to protect the common people and clear the beast tide.

It was now a “lull period” in the beast tide, during which they needed to recover human corpses and search for injured soldiers who could still be saved.

These two corpse collectors, using their mystical incense burners and storage bags, worked with remarkable efficiency, swiftly completing their search of the northeastern corner of the forest and preparing to return to base.

Suddenly, a flock of birds was startled into the air, and from not far away came a high-pitched, piercing howl that stirred a gust of wind, accompanied by the rumbling of heavy footsteps.

Both men looked up, their faces filled with terror.

They exchanged a glance and shouted in unison, “Run!”

From the commotion, it seemed to be a small remnant beast tribe.

The two men immediately channeled their spiritual energy and fled madly towards the camp.

From the techniques they displayed, both were at the Golden Core level.

This was the typical state of the “corpse collecting” work, requiring not only high cultivation but also an intimate knowledge of the forest terrain.

This was not their first time encountering such a situation.

Although their escape was frantic, they were not panicked.

Ordinarily, a pair of Golden Core cultivators would be able to handle most of the remaining beast forces.

However, today was different.

Another sharp howl sounded, but this time it was alarmingly close, as if right next to their ears.

The tall, thin man glanced back in shock, seeing a gigantic black beetle, taller than the trees, extending its luminescent blue pincers towards him.

“It’s an Iron Armor Beetle; its pincers have Golden Core-level strength,” the other man said, hurling his alchemy furnace to deflect the oncoming pincers with a clang, the furnace spinning back into his hand.

The tall, thin man turned and counterattacked. “Iron Armor Beetles are social creatures; there are likely more nearby. We just need to repel it; escaping to the camp is the priority!”

They combined their efforts to knock the beetle over, flipping it onto its back, making it difficult for it to right itself before fleeing once more.

However, after flying only a short distance, they suddenly stopped.

The tall, thin corpse collector finally broke out in a cold sweat—just like before, over ten Iron Armor Beetles of the same size had unknowingly surrounded them, each at least at the Golden Core level.

An entire group of Golden Core-level beast insects!

Faced with a dense array of toxic pincers raised against them, the two men’s hearts sank, finally feeling the weight of despair.

The tall, thin corpse collector, drenched in blood with his spiritual energy depleted, suddenly withdrew his alchemy furnace and flung it into a corner.

His companion, equally gravely injured, looked at him in shock.

In their dire predicament, abandoning their weapon was tantamount to suicide.

“We are already at a dead end. The human with a breath of life we found earlier is inside the furnace; the beast insects won’t detect it. Perhaps it can survive and be discovered by future corpse collectors,” the tall man said calmly.

His companion, realizing his intent, gritted his teeth, blocked the next wave of attacks, and threw his own furnace away as well.

Out of options, the two men stood back-to-back as the beast insects’ countless compound eyes stared at them, with the glimmering blue pincers poised high above their heads.

Knowing their end was near, they closed their eyes, ready to self-destruct their Golden Cores and perish alongside their enemies.

Just as they were about to detonate, a surge of purple-gold lotus fire burst forth from the ground beneath their feet.

The lotus fire bore no traces of spells; it relied solely on its heat and raw power to force the beast insects back.

The insects, transfixed by the fire, retreated in fear, their pincers clacking restlessly before emitting a shrill screech.

The eyes of the two corpse collectors lit up with the reflection of the lotus fire.

They recalled something and looked up with a snap.

“It’s the Young Mistress.”

“The Sixth Elder!”

From servants to esteemed guests, everyone in the Qin family recognized this lotus fire.

It was the hope of the Qin family, their miracle.

Some affectionately called her the Young Mistress, while others respectfully addressed her as the Sixth Elder.

Qin Ruqing!

The tall, thin corpse collector first felt joy, then dread, as his face flushed pale and he painfully exclaimed, “I… I can’t retract my Golden Core’s energy anymore…”

Within the encircling lotus fire, a graceful figure slowly took shape.

From the flames, a delicate and even hand extended, touching the tall man’s dantian.

The tall, thin man felt an overwhelming heat.

Before he could pull himself out of this sensation, he realized that his nearly-exploding golden core had suddenly calmed down—or rather, been suppressed.

“Self-detonating to take your enemy with you might be brave, but here in the Qin family, we don’t encourage such actions,” a voice said.

The tall man looked up, startled.

“At least shout for help before you blow yourself up,” Qin Ruqing smiled lightly. “Who knows, maybe help will arrive in time?”

The man opened his mouth, but a surge of emotions choked his words.

All he could do was wonder to himself, Would calling for help summon a savior as godlike as you?

He never asked aloud, as Qin Ruqing had already turned her back.

“Stay within the fire circle. The beast insects won’t dare come near,” she instructed.

With a casual sweep, she wielded a ribbon of fire through the air, sending a shockwave that blew away the enormous insects.

Those that came too close burst into purple-gold flames upon contact with the fire.

Qin Ruqing seemed not to need any careful aiming—she lazily flicked the fiery ribbon, and as soon as all the insects were ignited, she smirked. With her other hand, she swiftly formed a hand seal.

“Explode!”

Dozens of explosions rang out at once, shaking the ground.

As the scorching waves of flames swept over everything, Qin Ruqing grabbed the two corpse collectors by the backs of their collars and yanked them out of the blast zone.

The two men had been in a state of speechless shock from the beginning to the end.

Noticing their silence, Qin Ruqing thoughtfully explained, “Nightfall is coming. More terrifying demon kings will be active at night. You’d better return to the camp with me.”

The tall man suddenly recalled something and hesitated. “Elder, during the fight with the beast insects, we… we lost the pill furnaces.”

The furnaces contained clansmen who were barely clinging to life.

“Oh!” Qin Ruqing responded as if she’d just realized, then added with praise, “You’ve done well.”

With a mere wave of her hand, she summoned the two pill furnaces from opposite directions, without needing to search for them.

After handing them back to the men, she smiled. “Now we can leave, right?”

“At your command, Elder!” they replied reverently.

The Qin family’s camp was set up on the edge of Yuanshan Town, which lay at the outskirts of the dense forest.

The town’s residents had evacuated a month ago, leaving only the family cultivators to defend against the beast tide.

Qi Rong, returning from patrol with a group of scouts, found Lu Wei squatting beside a red-black pill furnace.

When he stood next to her, gulping down water, she casually waved her hand, and the light smoke rising from the furnace instantly changed color.

Qi Rong set down his water bowl and sniffed the air.

He immediately felt his spirit clear and his depleted spiritual energy quickly recovering.

“No matter how many times I see it, Third Sister, your technique is always impressive,” Qi Rong remarked, taking a seat beside Lu Wei.